High time: the case for legalising drugs

Depending on who you ask, drugs kill anywhere between 150,000 - 600,000 people globally a year.  Traffic accidents kill at least 1.2 million, and alcohol 2.6 million.

Interesting then that the least dangerous of these activities is the most vilified by States and social conservatives worldwide.

While it is possible that decriminalisation may lead to an uptick in usage, the evidence suggests otherwise. In 2019, almost a decade after decriminalisation, Portugal logged a grand total of 74 drug deaths, working out to approximately 6 per million of population, compared to 284 per million in Scotland.

For Libertarians however, such morbid statistical discussion is largely an irrelevance - the individual is sovereign, and that should be the basis of all policy. As long as the taxpayer is not forced to fund drug treatment, it is quite frankly nobody else's business what people choose to put into their own bodies.

Mention the word "drugs" and many on the right seize up and abandon all reason. Some think smoking a little herb to be the work of the devil, often waxing lyrical about the dangers of drugs after polishing off their third glass of pinot grigio. The sanctimonious judgement of social conservatives has no place in the Libertarian tradition.

What then, of the non-agression principle? It may be reasonable to suggest that drug use does infringe on the liberty of others, such as family members and employers.

While no one is suggesting we criminalise sloth, or mental illness, or being a socialist, (the three often interlinked) these are just as likely to have an impact on an individual's ability to live up to their obligations as is drug use. Occasional responsible drug use need not necessarily become problematic - as my mother loves to say, everything in moderation!

It is also worth considering not only the freedom that comes with bodily autonomy, but the huge increase in safety that would come with legalisation.

A approximately half of drug deaths are not caused by overdoses, but by the unintended consumption of adulerants such as fentanyl. When you know what’s in the product you’re taking, and the right dose, you’re much less likely to die.

Many proponents of legalisation also point to the potential tax revenue it would be bring. While as long as Labour are in power such revenue is likely to be wasted in a heartbeat on DEI, Net Zero, Mauritius or some other nonsense, the point remains that taxing drugs would help in tackling our crippling national debt. Since it would be a tax paid only by those who freely choose to consume drugs, as Libertarians we may be able to hold our nose and accept a small sales tax of a few percentage points on recreational drugs - in exchange for a safe product and tax reductions elsewhere.

Welcoming drugs into the free market not only raises individual autonomy and revenue but has the added benefit of fighting crime. The global trade in illicit drugs is believed to be worth about $650 billion a year, greater than the GDP of Sweden. That's a lot of cash in dodgy hands. These billions could be snatched from the hands of violent traffickers and gangs in an instant. Analysts suggest an additional $100 billion in savings for law enforcement agencies. That the anti-drug lobby would rather force their moralistic worldview on others than curb the influence of gangs shows us where their true priorities really lie.

From gang crime to drugs deaths, the war on drugs causes the problems that people attribute to the drugs themselves. It is high time for full legalisation.